pocketflow/README.md

Pocket Flow - LLM Framework in 100 Lines

A 100-line minimalist LLM framework for (Multi-)Agents, Workflow, RAG, etc.

• Install via pip install pocketflow, or just copy the source code (only 100 lines).

• If the 100 lines are too terse, check out a friendlier intro.

• Documentation: https://the-pocket.github.io/PocketFlow/

Why Pocket Flow?

Pocket Flow is part of a New Development Paradigm: Let LLM Agents (e.g., Cursor AI) build LLM Agents for humans!

Now, if you use Cursor AI...

• 🫠 with frameworks like LangChain: You will run into errors (e.g., using deprecated packages, hallucinating new functions, or failing to express new agentic designs).

• 😐 without any framework: Ironically, this often works better. However, the code it produces is ad hoc and NOT modular or maintainable for large projects.

• 🥰 with Pocket Flow: Pocket Flow is minimal and expressive, so it initially works similarly to the "no framework" approach. But as a project grows, Pocket Flow:

  • Nodes and flows enforce a modular design.
  • A shared store enforces the separation of data and compute logic.

So, the 100-line limit compels Cursor AI to follow good design principles without sacrificing expressiveness, which is essential for real-world projects.

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To set up:

• Cursor Rules: Copy .cursorrules into your project’s root.

• ChatGPT & Claude: Create a project (ChatGPT andClaude) and upload the docs folder to project knowledge.

What Is Pocket Flow?

The 100 lines capture what we believe to be the core abstraction of LLM projects:

• Computation: A graph that breaks down tasks into nodes, with branching, looping, and nesting.
• Communication: A shared store that all nodes can read and write to.

From there, it’s easy to implement popular design patterns like (Multi-)Agents, Workflow, RAG, etc.

• To learn more about how it works, check out the documentation
• For an in-depth dive into the design, check out the essay